Interactive voice response systems allow customers to access by telephone a computer-controlled menu system and interact with that system either by pushing DTMF codes on their telephone or by speaking simple voice commands to the system.
While the use of IVR systems has become extremely common, a quick review of IVR systems is in order.
A caller may desire to obtain information (such as closing time) from a retail establishment (such as a department store). The customer dials the store number and receives a greeting, and the following dialog might ensue.
“Hello, welcome to the XYZ Department Store. For English, Press 1. Por Espanol, o prima el numero dos.”
If the customer prefers English, they might press the “1” key on their telephone keypad. If they prefer Spanish, they might press “2”. Either key will send a DTMF code, which is a pair of tones at standardized frequencies. One, for example is two tones, one at a frequency of 697 KHz and the other at a frequency of 1209 KHz. Two, on the other hand, is 697 KHz paired with 1336 KHz.
The IVR system of the department store will then decode the pair of tones sent. If the tones match the number 1, the IVR will proceed to play a next set of audible options (a verbal menu) in English, while if the tones decode as 2, the IVR will play the menu in Spanish. If the caller entered some other number or key such as 0, the IVR system will play an error message such as “That tone was not understood”.
An example of a menu in English might be as follows. “For hours and locations, press 1. For payments, press 2. For a list of our departments, press 3. To hear about exciting new specials at the XYZ Department Store, press 4. To leave a message, press 5. To return to the previous menu, press 0.”
Such dialogs can be quite lengthy and may involve numerous levels and options for large organizations.
Up to the present time, it had been necessary to individually program IVR systems, that is each individual IVR system up until now is unique. This individual programming requirement increases the cost of IVR systems dramatically due to the necessity to have teams of programmers work on each new IVR system.
It would be preferable to provide an IVR system which allows IVR offering establishments (hereinafter “IVR owner”) to set-up, customize and change their own IVR systems with minimal technical assistance, whether the IVR string is located on the IVR service's computer (and index computer) or on a computer belonging to an IVR owning client organization.
It would be preferable to provide an IVR system which accesses information on IVR strings stored on client computers to provide the various outgoing messages and options of the IVR string.
It would be further preferable to provide an IVR system which transfers execution of an IVR string to client computers to provide the various outgoing messages and options of the IVR string.
It would be further preferable to provide an IVR system which is dynamic based upon a combination of ANI data from the number dialing the IVR, DNIS information from the number dialed to reach the IVR and item ID, indicating which particular item is of interest, and further if the IVR system allowed transfer to different computers potentially belonging to different clients depending on this information.